A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the photocopy reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure in exactly the form it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
The present invention relates in general to a gaming device, and more particularly to a gaming device with a video display that mirrors the random generation display mechanism of the gaming device and clarifies multi-payline machines having complex payout schemes.
Gaming device manufactures have long provided gaming machines employing a plurality of reels, wherein the reels each have a plurality of symbols. In these games, the player xe2x80x9cspinsxe2x80x9d a number of reels that act independently to produce a random generation of a combination of symbols. If the generated combination, or a portion of the combination, matches one of a number of predetermined award producing or winning combinations, the player receives an award.
To increase player enjoyment and excitement, and to increase the popularity of the gaming machines, gaming device manufacturers constantly strive to provide players with new types of gaming machines that attract the player and keep the player entertained. One proven way manufacturers use to make their machines more popular is to increase the number and variety of winning combinations and provide more opportunities for the player to win. Providing more variety and opportunities holds the player""s interest for a longer time and also enables the manufacturer to have a larger range of payouts for the winning combinations. The larger range increases the size of the largest possible payout of the gaming device, and large payouts tend to attract players.
To increase variety and opportunity, manufacturers have increased the number of possible symbol positions or paystops. Increasing paystops increases the number of different symbols a game can have and increases the number of times a particular symbol can appear. Increasing the number of times that a symbol can appear increases its likelihood of appearance, which affects the payout of a winning combination containing that symbol. Winning combinations that have a rare or low likelihood of appearance tend to have higher payouts.
One way manufactures have increased the number of paystops has been to increase the size of the reel to accommodate more stops. Original gaming machines had approximately ten stops per reel, modern mechanical reels have approximately thirty to thirty five stops per reel and modern video machines have no physical limit to the number of stops per reel. Another way manufacturers have increased the number of paystops has been to add reels. Original gaming machines had three reels, while modern mechanical machines have employed up to five reels. Video reel machines have not increased the number of reels above five mainly because five reels create enough diversity to keep the game interesting without becoming too complex for the player to enjoy.
Another avenue that manufacturers have taken to provide more variety, opportunity, enjoyment and excitement has been to increase the number of paylines. Paylines are the sequence or line of paystops that the machine analyzes to determine if the player has won an award. The paylines in essence define the combination or group of paystops to be analyzed. Original gaming machines had only one payline. Modern machines sometimes called xe2x80x9clinexe2x80x9d machines have multiple paylines that contain a number of rows, lines or sequences of paystops that form combinations for the gaming device to analyze. The multiple rows, lines or sequences present multiple opportunities for the player to obtain a winning combination of symbols. Usually, players have to wager more to obtain the benefit of the multiple lines. Many games provide a bonus jackpot for playing the maximum number of coins and paylines, which means the player increases the payout values by playing all the paylines.
The line machines display multiple rows of paystops generated by each reel of the gaming device, wherein each row is a payline. Machines having at least three reels and displaying at least three rows of symbols create diagonal lines, wherein each diagonal line is also a payline. Machines having five reels and displaying at least three rows have many possible paylines, wherein the only criterion is that each paystop of a line or sequence must be adjacent to at least one other paystop of the line. Consequently, certain known gaming machines have up to nine different paylines, wherein a player can make up to nine different bets each time the player spins the reels.
It should be appreciated that gaming machines have become rather complex in comparison to the original three reel, ten stop machine created before 1900. At some point, adding variety yields diminished returns as the inevitable accompanying complexity of placing multiple bets and trying to keep tract of multiple winning combinations for each bet becomes too complex for the player. A player may win after a given spin of the reels and find it difficult to determine how, where or why the player has won. Mechanical reels, which are limited in drum radius, have limited space with which to display the multitude of symbols. Simulated reel displays are also limited in size to make room for other input devices and displays requiring panel space. The limited display space and viewing area furthers the complexity created by the multitude of paylines and winning combinations.
Therefore, a need exists to create a second, preferably larger display that follows or mirrors the display of the operation of the actual reels, which randomly generate different combinations of symbols. A need also exists to have such a second display parse or separate the paylines on which the player has won from the remainder of the paylines and symbols of said display. Such a display is preferably simulated so that it can show other necessary indicia and different successful paylines at different times.
The present invention involves a gaming device that provides a second or replicating display that is an enlarged, preferably simulated replica of the actual display of the reels, paylines and indicia of the paystops of the gaming device. The second or replicating display can exactly recreate the actual rotation or random generation of the reels or do so by providing a slight delay. The present invention also contains a method by which the replicating display presents each of a plurality of award generating or winning paylines individually and sequentially for a predetermined amount of time before culminating in a display of the accumulated winning paylines. The method enables the player to easily see the source of an award from a multitude of paylines, which would otherwise be difficult to discern.
In the replicating embodiment, the replicating display contains the same number of reels, the same number of paylines, the same number of paystops and the same indicia and order of indicia on the paystops as does the actual display or paystop display. The replicating display is preferably larger than the paystop display so that a player can easily see the action of the gaming device after setting the reels in motion, and so that the player can more easily discern the source of the player""s award or success. The replicating display preferably exactly replicates, follows or shadows the rotation of the actual reels including the oscillation or overshoot created by the weight of mechanical reels coming to an abrupt stop.
In an alternative embodiment, the replicating display follows or is slightly behind the paystop display. The slight delay contemplated by the present invention provides an enjoyable and aesthetic effect for the player. The delay can be for any suitable time period but preferably is less than a second.
The replicating display can also contain indicia relating to a theme of the gaming device. Such indicia are preferably displayed in addition to the replicating of the paystop, however, the present invention can display the indicia in place of or instead of the replicating. At certain times, such as when no one is playing the gaming device, the mirroring device preferably displays the indicia video clips, or other entertainment relating to the theme of the device (as opposed to mirroring the idle symbols). Alternatively, the replicating display can display static and dynamic sequences, where in the indicia of said sequences have no relation to the theme of the gaming device. When nobody is playing the gaming device, the implementor may wish to display animations unrelated to the theme of the gaming device.
When the replicating device finishes displaying the random generation of the reels of the paystop display, the present invention preferably provides a method or sequence of displaying the player""s awards in a serial fashion, such that the player can easily discern the source of the award. In a device wherein the player plays many paylines, e.g., nine at once, the present invention contemplates displaying each payline that generates an award individually and sequentially. At the end of the individual displays, the present invention displays an accumulation of all the award generating paylines in the replicating display.
The method of presenting award generating paylines enables the player to easily see the source of an award. The present invention preferably stops one payline display before beginning another, although the displays can overlap. Alternatively still, the replicating display can accumulate the award generating paylines one after another until they are all displayed at once. The payline displays preferably last from one to two seconds each, and each payline display can last for a different period of time. The present invention does not require that the paylines be presented in any order, however, the present invention preferably displays the paylines in the order that the gaming device presents the paylines to the player.
In addition, the present invention contemplates providing a backlighting system that highlights certain symbols of the reels at certain times. Lights disposed behind the reels are connected to the controller of the gaming device. The controller can selectively light one or more of the lights at various times. The present invention contemplates lighting the reels during the replicating portion of the game and dimming the reels during the winning payline display.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a gaming device with a second, larger display that follows or mirrors the display of the operation of the actual reels so that the player may easily see the generation and outcome of a combination of reels.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a gaming device that can parse or separate the paylines on which the player has received an award from the remainder of the paylines and symbols of the reels and display the winning paylines to the player individually and in total.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed disclosure, taken in conjunction with the accompanying sheets of drawings, wherein like numerals refer to like parts, elements, components, steps and processes.